Shades of Gray
by M. L. Ayala
Summary: What happens when someone decides to use the Door to Timeless River to change events for their own benefit? Sora and Riku travel to Disney Castle to find out what happened and realize that things might be more complicated than they originally thought...
1. Prologue

Hey everyone! This is my first KH story, so I hope you all enjoy it! Please review!

Prologue

The door to the audience chamber in Disney Castle creaked open. It was pitch black, the middle of the night, and everyone had gone to bed. The flapping footsteps that had led up to the door continued quickly, yet hesitantly, across the room, until they reached the throne. A few moments of silent searching, and then..._click. _The throne slid off to the side to reveal a staircase leading down into the Hall of the Cornerstone. The footsteps resumed, down the stairs, and up to the large silver double-doors. They were pulled open with a groan, and several indistinguishable mutterings.

There were a few seconds of uncertainty, and second thoughts, but they were quickly pushed aside. The doors to Timeless River swung shut behind the individual, as they stepped back in time.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sora ran down to the beach just as Riku was tying his boat to the dock. Riku glanced up as Sora slid to a stop beside him.

"What is it, Sora?" he asked in an impatient tone.

"Riku, something doesn't feel right. I think something's happened at Disney Castle," Sora said, as he tried to catch his breath.

"So you felt it too?"

"Yeah."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"I'll send a message to Cid," Sora said as he turned around and started running back the way he had come, "he can send us a gummi ship, so we can go see what's going on."

Riku started walking back towards his house, trying to think of some explanation for why he and Sora had had the same feeling at practically the same time. Something was wrong at Disney Castle, and Riku was pretty sure that whatever it was, it involved the King.

"Cid's sending us a ship," Sora shouted as he ran back towards Riku. "It'll be here in about a half an hour."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Sora and Riku landed their gummi ship in Disney Castle, they glanced out the window and realized that the castle looked completely different.

"What's going on?" Sora asked as they walked through the courtyard and saw several brooms rushing past.

"Maybe they're redecorating" Riku suggested, as they strode up to the doors. Once they were inside, they were stunned to find that the whole inside of the castle had been redesigned. "Hey, Sora... aren't blue and yellow Donald's colors?"

"Yeah."

"Then why is the whole castle done up in blue and yellow?"

"I don't know, let's go ask the King." Sora turned away from the picture that he had been looking at. On his last visit, there had been a painting of Queen Minnie there, but now it was a portrait of Daisy.

They wandered slowly down the hallway, examining all of the changes that had taken place. They spun around when they heard shouting coming from one of the rooms behind them.

"Get out of here! And don't let me catch you in this castle again! Or you'll be sorry!"

"But, Queen Daisy -"

Sora turned to Riku, "That's Queen Minnie!" Sora started to run towards the door, but Riku held him back.

"Wait Sora! Queen _Daisy_? Since when was Daisy the queen?"

Sora hesitated, then jumped when he heard a crash like someone was throwing something. "That doesn't matter right now." he said with a wave of his hand, "the Queen's in trouble, we have to help her!" He turned and dashed into the room with Riku right behind him.

"How dare you try to steal those jewels!" Daisy shrieked as she stood in the center of the room, throwing things at Minnie, who was desperately trying to run out of the room.

"But Queen Daisy, I found it lying out in the hallway, I was only trying to put it back!" she cried as she ducked behind a table.

"Oh, so you're a liar too! Guards!" Daisy yelled as she continued throwing everything in her reach at Minnie. "Guards!"

"Hold on!" Sora said as he jumped between them. "What's going on?"

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Riku asked Minnie.

"Well of course I'm not all right!" Daisy wailed. "This little thief just tried to steal one of my bracelets!"

Sora and Riku took a step back to look at Minnie and Daisy again. Daisy was wearing one of the most extravagant gowns that they had ever seen, while Minnie was dressed in little more than rags.

"I was only trying to return it." Minnie said in a tearful whisper.

"Umm, why don't we...go talk to the King. I'm sure this is just a big misunderstanding" Sora said as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Good idea, Sora" Riku said just loud enough for him to hear, "maybe the King can tell us what's going on here." Sora nodded, then gestured for Daisy and Minnie to follow him.

"C'mon. The King's probably in the library."

"Why would he be there?" Daisy asked. "He's in the audience chamber"

"Oh, okay..." Sora said with an uneasy glance at Riku. "to the audience chamber"

Riku pulled open the door to the audience chamber, then let Daisy and Minnie go in before him. As soon as he and Sora stepped into the room and saw who was sitting on the throne, they both froze.

"No way..."

"You have got to be kidding me..."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Donald Duck sat on his throne in the audience chamber, thinking about the past few weeks of his life. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice the four people standing in front of him.

"Donald!" Daisy called.

He shook his head as he snapped out of his daze. "oh, Daisy, what is it?" he glanced at the other three, and was shocked to find Sora and Riku standing alongside Minnie. "What are you doing here?" he said in a panicked voice.

"We should be asking you the same question!" Sora said.

"How dare you address the King that way" Daisy yelled.

"The King?" Sora and Riku both cried in astonishment.

"Wait a minute, you're just filling in for King Mickey, right?" Sora asked, "He probably had to leave for a little while, and he asked you to watch everything for him, right?"

"Um, Sora..." Riku said quietly, "I think we need to get out of here," he gestured at the guards who had started to encircle them, "maybe we should come back later..."

"But Riku!"

"Trust me Sora." Riku turned and glared at Donald.

Donald glared back and said, "Mickey isn't the King! I am! And I'm ordering you to leave the castle, right now!"

"Of course. So sorry about the inconvenience, Your Majesty!" Riku said sarcastically, and with a slight bow. "C'mon Sora"

"But Riku!"

"Not now Sora," Riku whispered. "We'll find our own way out," he added over his shoulder to Donald and the others as he pulled Sora with him out the door.

Once they were a little ways away from the audience chamber, Sora turned to Riku.

"We're not really leaving everything like this, are we?"

"Of course not!" Riku exclaimed, "But we can't do much with all of those guards around. If you had kept your big mouth shut, we might have been able to figure out what's going on. But since you didn't, we're just going to have to find the King." Seeing Sora's slightly bewildered expression, "The _real _King"

"Didn't you see the way Donald was looking at us? He'll probably have guards all over the castle by now." Sora said dismally.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I've been missing a good challenge." Riku said as he took off running through the castle.

"Hey! No fair!" Sora said as he sprinted after Riku.

"Donald! Donald are you listening to me?" Daisy demanded as she stood before him.

"Wah?" he shook his head and looked at her, "What is it Daisy?"

"You weren't listening! What's gotten into you lately? You forget about the big dinner I had planned a few nights ago, and you've been acting strangely!"

"Ah...it's nothing. Don't worry about it." he said as he turned away from her. _Oooh! Why did Sora have to turn up? And now that I had everything starting to work, too! _he thought bitterly.

"Donald, are you hiding something from me!" Daisy said as she pushed her way past one of the guards that had decided to stand in front of her.

"Of course not, Daisy!" he said as he stood and walked out into the hallway. This was not going the way he had planned.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Riku glanced around the corner. He and Sora had agreed that it would be better if they split up and met back at the gummi ship later. Sora was searching the east half of the castle, and Riku the west. They hadn't realize it at the time, but the east half of the castle was mostly the over-extravagant, fancy, and over-decorated side, while the west side was almost all servants' quarters, and the southern most part was actually the dungeon, where Riku was currently located.

As Riku swept his gaze over the room, he realized that there were twice as many guards than there needed to be, standing around the door to one of the little cramped cells in the dungeon. There was only one reason that he could think of for 'King' Donald to guard someone that closely. Riku leaned back against the wall, took a deep breath, summoned his keyblade, and jumped around the corner.

In less than 30 seconds, all 10 guards were in a heap on the floor, unconscious.

"Too easy," he said with a smirk, as he walked up to the cell door and looked in. In the darkest corner, he was able to make out a very familiar pair of large, round ears. "Are you alright?" he said. He figured it would be best to avoid saying

'your majesty' and 'king Mickey' until he was sure of what was going on.

The King looked up at him. "Who are you?"

Riku sighed. Things had just gotten much more complicated if Mickey honestly didn't know who he was. "My name is Riku, and I'm here to help you." As he said this he used his keyblade to unlock the door. It swung open slowly, making a lot of noise in the process. "We need to leave right now, someone had to have heard that," he said as he started back towards the gummi ship.

Mickey followed him warily, after looking around the room to make sure Riku was the only one there. They dashed around the pile of guards, and ran down the hallway.

A little while later, Sora dashed into the gummi ship and closed the door behind him.

"What, can't handle a few guards, Sora?" Riku asked as he leaned against the wall.

"There were a lot more than a few! And it wasn't just guards, there were magicians, too!" Sora complained as he slumped against the door. "Did you find the King?" he asked as he looked at the floor.

"Yeah. Now let's get out of here before they tear the ship apart," Riku yelled over the sudden bangs and crashes coming from the exterior of the ship. He jumped into the pilot's chair and put the ship into orbit around the castle. while he was doing this, Sora realized that Mickey had been standing off to the side of the door ever since he had been on the ship. "Now I think it's time we figured out what's going on here." Riku said as he turned his chair around to face them.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"so basically, what you're saying is that a few weeks ago, King Donald came and ordered the guards to lock you in the dungeon for treason?" Riku asked a quarter of an hour later.

"Uh-huh" Mickey said as he sat against the wall.

"Wait," Sora looked really confused, "what were you doing before Donald had you locked in the dungeon?"

"I was training to be a court magician, but when I wasn't doing that I was one of the main servants" Mickey said.

"Oh. Well, where's Goofy?" Sora asked.

"Goofy? You mean the castle chef?"

"He made Goofy the chef?" Sora asked in shock.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Riku asked as he leaned on the back of the pilot's chair, "Donald would want to keep the two people that could stop him away from him," he ignored Mickey's confused expression as he continued to talk to

Sora. "What I want to know is, how did he change everyone's memories?"

"I don't understand," Mickey said, "Donald has been the King ever since he finished his apprenticeship under Master Yen Sid. Everyone has always known he would be the King. Why do the two of you act like he isn't the real king?"

"Because he's not the king. Somehow he managed to change everything." Riku said as he turned to look out the window. "I can't think of any way he could have done it"

"Wait a minute...are we sure that he changed their _**memories?"**_ Sora exclaimed as he jumped up and turned to Riku.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked as he turned back to Sora.

"Maybe he didn't change their memories. Maybe he changed what actually happened." Sora said in slight disbelief.

"Sora, that's impossible. He can't change time."

"He wouldn't have to. He'd just have to use the door to Timeless River."

"You mean the door that Merlin made to send you back in time?"

"Yeah. Now that I think about it, it has to be. He wanted to change something when we were there the first time, but we stopped him. But I doubt he wanted to change it this much."

"He must've changed his mind about what he really wanted," Riku said as he looked out the window, down at Disney Castle. "Okay, so we know _how_ he did it. And I bet we can probably guess _why_ he did it. So the only question left is how do we _fix_ it?"

"We have to get to Timeless River, and stop whatever it was that he did there," Sora said as he went to stand beside Riku.

"Yeah, but how do we get to Timeless River? Donald's got guards all over the castle." Riku said as he pointed down at the increasing amount of guards at various points throughout the visible areas of the castle.

"Merlin could get us in there." Sora said matter-of-factly.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Hey!" Cid said as he jumped out of the way of a bolt of lightning, which hit the chair where he had just been sitting. Merlin turned around and sent another spell under his breath, then sent a strand of fire after Cid.

"So, do you still think magic is worthless compared to your version of science?" Merlin shouted in rage. Just as he was about to use blizzara to freeze Cid's computer, Sora and Riku came through the door. "Stay out of the way, boys!"

Sora looked around the room quickly, then back at Cid and Merlin. "Merlin, we don't have time for this!" he said impatiently. "We need your help!"

Merlin turned to them, "Good heavens! Things haven't gotten that bad at the castle, have they?" Cid dashed out the door while Merlin wasn't paying attention.

"Well, you see-"

"Donald used the Door to Timeless River to make himself king." Riku said as he pushed Sora off to the side. "No one is who they're supposed to be. We need you to get us to the Door so we can fix everything. Donald has guards all over the castle looking for us, so we can't get in by ourselves without making a mess." Riku crossed his arms, and leaned back against the wall, as he waited for Merlin's reaction.

"Well, that is a problem! Are you sure that that's what happened?" Merlin asked.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Sora said as he glared at Riku, who looked like he was about to interrupt him again. "At first we thought he had changed everyone's memories, but then I remembered how Donald had tried to change some things when we first went to Timeless River."

"Yes, that's right, I remember," Merlin said thoughtfully, "alright, boys, I'll get you to the door. But first, why don't that two of you wait here, while I go see just how bad everything's become. And it would probably be best if we kept this little issue to ourselves, hmm?" He turned and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Now what do we do?" Riku said as he walked over towards the table and picked up one of the books scattered acrost it.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to see how everyone's doing," Sora said over his shoulder as he dashed out the door.

Riku sighed as he dropped the book back on the table. He knew that Sora wouldn't mind if he went with him, but he didn't really feel like it. As he stood in the middle of the room, trying to decide what to do, he thought about everything that had happened over the past few days, and he smiled. It felt good to be back in the middle of the action, even if this way nothing compared to his past adventure. He had enjoyed the time at home, but he had been itching to get back to the excitement.

Merlin reappeared by the door and looked around the room. "Well, it's worse than I thought."

"Can you get us in?" Riku asked.

"That shouldn't be a problem, but there are a few things that you need to know. Why don't you go find Sora, and then I'll explain. You see, things are worse than I thought."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sora wandered down the streets of Radiant Garden in the general direction of Merlin's house. He knew that Merlin was probably back by now, and that he and Riku were probably waiting for him, but he didn't care. He wasn't quite ready to go back and get caught up in all of the action again. Even though this little adventure wouldn't have the same level of excitement that his last adventures had had, he had to admit, he had enjoyed the time at home, with nothing more important to do than eating ice cream and sleeping on the beach.

He sighed as he leaned back against a wall, with his hands behind his head, and looked around at the surrounding streets. The peaceful state of the town amazed him. Only a few months ago, it had been over-run with Heartless, but now it was quiet and peaceful. He was proud of the part that he had played in helping to get it to this point.

Sora started walking again, and thinking about the past few days. The truth was, he had missed the quiet life he had on Destiny Islands, and even though he had been home for a few months, it wasn't long enough. He wasn't quite feeling up to another adventure just yet.

He turned down another street and ran into a girl who was coming from the opposite way.

"Oh! Um, sorry about that," he said as he tried to help her to her feet. She shook her head and pushed him away. As she stood up, her wavy dark hair fell over her face, and she glared at him from her dark eyes.

"Why don't you watch where you're going next time?" she said in an elegant voice that had a slight accent to it. She took a step backwards so she could study him. "Who are you anyway?"

Sora was slightly stunned by her quick change of mood. Just a few seconds before she had looked like she was about to attack him for running into her, but now she looked calm and inquisitive. He hesitated when he realized that her dark eyes looked like they were hiding something. "Um, I'm Sora." She flinched, just enough to notice, and turned and walked away. "Wait! You didn't tell me who you are!" he shouted after her.

"I know." she said over her shoulder as she turned down another street. Sora ran after her, but slid to a stop when he realized that the street she had gone down was a dead end. And she was nowhere in sight.

"What the..."

"Hey! Sora! C'mon! Merlin's going to take us back to the Castle!" Riku said as he ran towards Sora. Sora turned to look at Riku, then back at where the girl should have been. He decided not to say anything about her until they got back to Merlin's house.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The girl leaned out the window of a room two stories above where Sora had just left. She sighed as she jumped down into the street and started walking again. _That was close_, she thought, _I can't believe that this is actually happening. I knew that Sora would show up eventually to see what had happened, but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon._

A shadow shifted off to her right, and she spun in that direction only to realize that it was only a dog wondering around. She shook her head at her jumpiness and continued on her way. By the time the sun had begun to set, she was almost to the Dark Depths, where a small ship awaited her. She jumped into the pilot's chair and set the ship's course for Disney Castle.

Riku watched amusedly as Merlin lectured Sora on how ridiculous his story was. "A girl that you bump into runs down an alley that happens to be a dead end and seems to disappear, and you automatically think that she has something to do with the problem at Disney Castle? She couldn't possibly, since very few people here even know about Disney Castle."

"But Merlin, what if she's not from Radiant Gardens?" Sora asked impatiently.

"what would make you think that?" Riku said, suddenly taking an interest in Sora's story.

"When I told her my name, she recognized it, and that's when she ran down the street and disappeared. And she had a strange accent, one that I haven't heard before."

"Well even if she is from another world, that doesn't make her a threat." Merlin said. "Now boys, let's get back to our immediate crisis, and leave this minor one for another day, shall we?" Sora and Riku nodded. "i don't think Donald came up with this idea on his own. It seems a little bit too intricate for him. So when you two go to Timeless River, you need to keep an eye out for anyone and anything that seems extremely out of the ordinary."

"Got it." Sora nodded.

"Good, now, you know the rules from last time, so I don't need to explain them. Are you both ready?"

Sora and Riku nodded, and as they did a puff of smoke encircled them, and then they were back in Disney Castle, standing before the Door to Timeless River.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sora and Riku tumbled out of the Door into Timeless River, landing in a tangled heap a few feet from the Door.

"Whoa!" Riku said in surprise as he sat up quickly and took in the black and white surroundings, then looked at himself and Sora. "I know you said it would be like this, but ... wow..."

"Yeah, I felt the same way when we first came here." They turned in a quick circle, surveying the surroundings again, this time for signs of Donald or anyone else that didn't belong. Once they were sure that there was no one else around, they headed off towards the river, where a small gathering of houses and other buildings was.

A few minutes after they left, the Door opened again, this time allowing a girl with dark hair and eyes to step through. She glanced around quickly, and then headed off in the opposite direction of the buildings by the river, towards the beginning site of the construction of the castle.

Sora and Riku found themselves once again standing in front of the Door. Sora flopped down on the ground beside it with an exasperated sigh. "We've searched everywhere in town and we still haven't seen even the slightest sign of Donald or anyone else who doesn't belong in this time."

"Relax, Sora, there's still a few places left for us to search. They're here somewhere, we'll find them soon enough. Now c'mon, let's go check out the construction site for the castle."

Sora groaned in protest, then stood slowly, and stretched. "Fine, let's go."

A little while later, they were wandering around the construction site, trying not to disturb the workers too much. Sora was ready to give up for the day, when he caught a glimpse of a slightly familiar face dodging behind a pile of stone.

"Riku!"

"Now what, Sora?" Riku asked in a very impatient tone.

"I just saw that girl."

"What girl?"

"The one that I bumped into in Radiant Gardens!"

"Sora, that's impossible. She wouldn't have known about this place, much less how to get here."

"I'm telling you, Riku, I saw here, and she's hiding behind that pile of stones right over there!"

"Okay, I'll believe you when I see her. Let's go check."

They crept around the stones from opposite sides, and when they met on the other side, a girl with dark hair and eyes was huddled down between them.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The girl jumped up and gasped when Sora and Riku pointed their keyblades in her direction.

"Who are you?" Sora demanded. She looked slightly unsteady as she glanced back and forth between the two boys, then she suddenly straightened up and glared at them.

"_I_ am trying to fix a problem that_ I_ created. So if you would excuse me, I have some work to do." After she said this she tried to push her way past them, but Riku blocked her and matched her glare with one of his own.

"You didn't answer his question. **Who. Are. You**?" Riku snapped in a very impatient tone.

"who I am is none of your business," she said stubbornly. "Now, if you don't mind, I would really like to go back to work." Sora and Riku backed away in surprise as she shoved between them and started walking away.

"Wait!" Sora said as he turned and ran after her. "You're the one that's responsible for all of the stuff going on, aren't you?" At his question, the girl lowered her head and looked ashamed. "Just tell us what's going on."

She sighed and looked around at the construction of the castle, then back at Sora. "Fine. You and your friend can follow me. If you want to know what's happened, we'll need to find somewhere where no one's going to overhear us."

"First off, you should know that I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I went to visit Disney Castle, like I'd been visiting dozens of other worlds. King Mickey was busy at the time, so Donald showed me around and told me about some of the adventures that you all had been on," the girl glanced up at Riku and Sora, then continued in a quieter tone. "He mentioned a Door that allowed you to go back in time and how you used it to stop someone from ruining your history. After he explained all of this, I asked him if any of you had considered using the door for other things. it had seemed pretty simple to me, you could just go back and prevent all of the things that caused such trouble from happening. As soon as I said it I realized how ridiculous it was." She shook her head and looked off into the distance. "I tried to change the subject, but I guess what I had said had caught his interest. He started asking me more about what I thought they could change by using the Door. At the time, I didn't see the problem with explaining some of the possibilities that time travel offers. I told him that someone could go back and rewrite the events of history, improve things for themselves in their current time. But by doing that it would in affect everything and everyone else. If you were to change too many things, or change something too much, it could cause problems that you couldn't possibly imagine." The look on her face was grim as she continued. "I think Donald had stopped listening to me the moment that I said someone could make things better for themselves."

Sora and Riku waited a few seconds to see if she would continue, but she was leaning back and looking around like she was expecting someone to be watching them.

"So Donald got the idea to change time from you, but you didn't help him." Sora said as he tried to understand everything that she had just told them.

"I've been trying to see how far the affects would spread, and how quickly, because once they reach a certain point I won't be able to do anything about any of what's happened." She said as she stood up slowly, "right now it hasn't spread

from this world, which is good, but if it's not fixed soon, it will spread to other worlds. It will be like if you had never met up with anyone from this world, and they had never helped you."

"But, we would never have been able to defeat Ansem or Organization XIII without them!" Sora exclaimed.

"So no one will have stopped them, and things will go back to being the way that they were?" Riku asked.

"Exactly," she said as she turned and started walking away, "which is why I have to stop it before it gets that far."

"Wait!" Sora said, "You can't expect to be able to stop this all by yourself. Let us help you."

"That's sweet of you, Sora," she said over her shoulder, "but I don't want to risk the two of you getting hurt. I'll handle this."

"And if you can't?" Riku said skeptically, "What happens then? It'll probably be too late for us to stop this. I definitely don't want things to go back to the way that they were. I'm staying, and if you don't want my help, then I'll just find a way to stop these effects from happening on my own." He crossed his arms and glared stubbornly at her.

"That goes for me too!" Sora added.

The girl sighed and looked off into the distance. "Very well then, I suppose I could use the help."

"Then we have an agreement." Riku said calmly. "Now will you tell us your name?"

She turned to look at them, and smiled slightly. "I'm Lya."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Donald watched Sora and Riku walk off towards the Door with Lya from behind a pile of stone. He muttered some things under his breath, then turned and went back to looking for Mickey. He wasn't sure what they were after, and he had no idea how they had gotten past his guards at Disney Castle in order to reach the Door. All he cared about right now was finding Mickey, and then taking his place in the ceremony later that afternoon.

The ceremony was meant to honor the future king of the castle. Fortunately, Mickey had a habit of showing up late, and all Donald had to do was make sure he got there before it began, and announce himself as the future king. Everyone would accept it without question, because the current king and queen weren't entirely sure who their long-lost relative was. They had gotten somewhat confused in their advanced years.

Donald grinned as he imagined the future that awaited him.

"So what are we looking for, exactly?" Sora asked as he and Riku followed Lya away from the castle construction area.

"I'm not sure. At first I just planned to grab Donald and go home, but I have no idea where he is. So we have to figure out when and where he manages to become king in place of Mickey." Lya said as she glanced at the side of a building, where a flyer had been posted. She kept walking for a few steps, then stopped and ran back.

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"An announcement. Telling about the upcoming dedication ceremony. When the 'long-lost descendent of the royal family will reveal themselves.' I think that's where we'll find Donald." Lya ran towards the gathering of houses by the river.

"Wait a sec! Where are you going?" Sora yelled as he and Riku raced after her.

She looked over her shoulder to see if they were following her, then ran faster.

"Hey!" Sora shouted, but they were soon too far behind for her to hear them. By the time they reached the river, she was nowhere in sight.

"That's just great!" Riku yelled in exasperation. "Where'd she go?"

"Why do you think she left?" Riku looked over at Sora and saw that he had a lost puppy look on his face.

"Maybe she got tired of your endless questions."

Neither of them saw Lya running back towards the Door, and returning to Disney Castle.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Lya burst through the Door and rolled across the floor into Disney Castle. When she looked up she found herself surrounded by a group of several dozen guards. "Oh sh-"

Riku watched as Sora stomped back and forth, fuming over Lya's deception. "I thought we were on the same side!" Sora screamed in frustration.

"Calm down. You look like a five year old having a temper tantrum." Riku said as Sora flung himself down on the ground and stared up at the sky, still furious.

"Where do you think she went?" Sora asked hopelessly.

"I don't know, but we'd better find her and figure out what she's really up to. You know what? I don't think she lied to us about trying to stop Donald."

"Why do you think that, Riku?"

"I don't know, I just have this feeling..." Riku looked towards the castle construction. "Why don't we go check out that ceremony, it might be important."

"Good idea. But I don't think it's supposed to start until tomorrow."

"Still, it might be useful to know the layout before hand," Riku started walking back towards the castle, and Sora jumped up to follow.

Lya stood in the center of a small cell in the castle's dungeon. She had a look of pure fury on her face, as one of the guards glanced in at her.

"I demand to know why I'm under arrest!" she yelled and stomped one foot for emphasis.

"King Donald declared that anyone to come through the Door was to be immediately placed under arrest," the guard answered.

"Under what charges?" she demanded.

"Treason, among other things," another guard answered.

"That's ridiculous! I haven't done anything!" Lya cried as she slammed her body against the door to the cell.

"If that's true, then the king will order your release when he returns."

"And when does he return?"

"In three days."

Lya gasped, "But that will be -"

"No more talking!" one of the guards yelled, and the rest turned away from her.

"- too late." She collapsed in a corner and put her head in her hands. "Sora ... Riku ... please forgive me ..." she whispered.

Meanwhile, time continued to unravel.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Well, that was a big waste of time," Sora sighed as he and Riku walked back to the field where the Door was. "They haven't even started setting up for the ceremony yet."

Riku stood a few feet away, staring at the Door. "Sora, where do you think Lya went?"

"Hopefully somewhere far, far away," Sora pouted. He still couldn't believe she had ran away like that.

"Seriously, where could she have gone? We haven't seen her, and everyone we've asked hasn't seen her either." Riku turned to look at Sora. "Maybe she went back."

"Does that mean-"

"We need to go back and see if she's in trouble. If she was trying to go back, for whatever reason, Donald's guards might have caught her."

Sora groaned, then looked at the Door again. "Fine, let's go see what she's up to."

Several minutes later, all of the guards by the Door had been knocked unconscious. Sora and Riku were heading through the hallways towards the dungeon, when Riku stopped suddenly, and cried out in pain. Sora spun around and saw that Riku was fading away.

"Riku!" Sora reached out to him, but his hand passed right through, and Riku continued to disappear. In a few seconds he was completely gone.

Sora stood in shock for a few minutes, then spun around and ran as fast as he could to the dungeon. When he got there the guards tried to stop him, but he knocked them out. He stood facing Lya through the bars of her cell.

"What's going on?" he yelled at her. She looked up at him, her expression full of regret. "What happened to Riku?"

"Time, it's ... been affected to the point that the events have finally spread to other worlds. If you hadn't come back, Riku would've been fine, but now he's been pulled into this chain of events." She stood up and placed her hands on the cell door. "Sora, you have to let me out of here. We have to go back to Timeless River before you and I share the same fate as Riku! If that happens then nothing will ever be set straight!"

Sora looked doubtful, then he opened the cell door. "Fine. But don't try to double-cross me."

"I wouldn't dare," she said as she took off running for the Door, with Sora close behind her.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Lya stood in the middle of the preparations for the coming ceremony. She looked around, searching for a good place to be once it started. There weren't many options. "We'll wait over there," she said as she pointed to a small area behind one of the banners. "Okay?"

Sora just walked past her to where she had pointed. He hadn't said hardly anything to her since they'd gotten back to Timeless River. Lya sighed and went over to Sora.

"Look, if we're going to do this, we need to work together. That means you have to talk to me. So why don't you start by telling me what's bothering you so much?"

"Why did you leave us?" Sora asked, his voice tense.

Lya looked away. "I...had to check on something. But I was caught as soon as I got back."

"What were you checking on?" Sora asked angrily. "Because if you had just told us, Riku would still be here."

"Sora, I'm sorry, but if I had told you, you would have still followed me. I was going to check on how far the effects have spread." she looked slightly guilty as she continued, "You know how I told you that once they spread so far, they can't be stopped. Well, that's not entirely true. If we haven't stopped this before it reaches the edges of your system of worlds, I'm going to get rid of all of the things that aren't the way that they're supposed to be."

"How are you gonna do that?" Sora asked. Lya looked away and closed her eyes.

"By destroying anything that's been changed."

"What?" Sora exclaimed as he jumped up.

"I'm sorry, Sora, but I refuse to let this spread out of this system. And it will, in about two days. I really don't want to do that, but I will if I have to. Now, let's figure out what we're going to do so that it doesn't come to that." She looked straight at Sora. "If we do this right, no one will remember that anything ever happened."

Sora considered everything that she had said, then nodded. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

They sat discussing possible strategies for an hour before they came up with one that seemed like it would work.

"Do you think you can handle all of that?" Lya asked Sora.

"Well, you said Donald won't remember anything that we do to him, right?"

"Not a thing."

"Then let's do it." Sora turned and ran to the back of the field where everyone would enter for the ceremony.

A few hours later, the ceremony was beginning, and just as they were about to ask the future king to reveal himself, Riku appeared in the middle of the crowd, floating a few feet above their heads, wearing the outfit that he had when he was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless. Sora gasped, and turned to look at Lya, who had a look of defeat on her face.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Sora grabbed Lya's hand and pulled her around the outer edges of the crowd and away from the ceremony. When they were far enough away, he let go of her and said, "Okay, what do we do now?"

"I have no idea, I wasn't expecting this to happen," she turned to look back towards the ceremony, "but I think it's safe to say that we have considerably less time than we had before. And we can forget about the plan that we had."

"What do you think happened to Donald, anyway? He never showed up." Sora said.

Before Lya could answer, they heard someone walking by them, mumbling and muttering to themselves. They turned and saw Donald marching towards the ceremony, covered in scrapes and bruises. He hadn't seen them standing there, since he was too busy complaining to himself about whatever had happened. Lya stepped in front of him and put her hands on her hips. "Where do you think you're going?"

Donald jumped, and fell backwards while shouting "Wah!" He put his hands over his face and peeked at her through his fingers.

"Gee, Sora, the way he acts, you'd think we were out to get him or something." Sora shook his head at her sarcasm. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. "But now that I think about it, he could be useful..."

Back at the ceremony, things had become chaotic. After announcing that he was now the ruler of this (and every other) world, Ansem had summoned a horde of Heartless to gather all of the people together. At his dramatic arrival they had all scattered, attempting to escape.

He sighed as he imagined the glorious and dark filled future that awaited him, once he dealt with a few...problems. That boy had to be found, and taught a lesson for all of the trouble that he had caused.

_His name is Sora!_ a voice in the back of his mind screamed. Only a little while longer and he could dispose of the boy he was inhabiting as well. Only a little while longer...

_They won't let you win!_

_"They"?_ he asked Riku, _you mean there's more than one?_ He chuckled as Riku fought to keep the information from him. _You can't hide it from me. Tell me who's with him._ He searched Riku's memories and found what he was looking for. _A girl? You think a girl can stop me? _For once the boy had nothing to say. Ansem enjoyed the frosty silence that radiated from Riku. _Soon you'll see the true power of Darkness._

He looked around and was pleased to see that the Heartless had gathered most of the people back to the area where the ceremony had been taking place. He waited while a few more people were herded into the area, then prepared to begin another glorious speech.

_You mean another crazy ranting monologue_, Riku snapped.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Lya stood watching as Sora argued with Donald. They needed his cooperation if they had any hope of restoring time. She thought that maybe if they were able to distract Ansem for a long enough time, she might be able to knock him out.

Donald seemed extremely nervous with her there, so she walked off a ways to let Sora continue reasoning with him. She looked out across the fields, and thought about all of the twists her life had taken, always leaving a path of ruins. As she realized that she would never be able to completely fix this, her surroundings faded to black and she collapsed.

Lya sat up quickly and looked around. She was surrounded by a plain of white light that extended in all directions. The only thing moving was a figure that was approaching her, but they were too far away for her to be able to tell who it was. Just as they were about to come close enough for her to see their face, everything faded away again.

She was back in Timeless River, and Sora and Donald were standing over her, calling her name and asking her if she was okay.

"Mmm, what happened?" she asked, feeling slightly dazed.

"You passed out," Sora said, "You've only been out for a few minutes, but you really worried us."

"Sorry. I don't know what happened." She stood up and tried to visualize the figure that she had seen.

Green, that's all she could remember, they had been wearing green. _Could it have been...no, it couldn't have been him._

She sighed and looked at Sora and Donald. "So, have you agreed yet?" she asked Donald.

He looked really uneasy, but he nodded his head. "I still don't see why I have to be the distraction," he complained.

"Well you're just going to have to deal with it," she turned to Sora, "Are you prepared for what we have to do?"

Sora's expression was grim, but he nodded. "Let's end this." He turned towards the ceremony, but she stopped him.

"Sora, it might not end the way that you want it to," she warned.

"You mean you don't think we can fix it anymore," he said in a depressed tone. "I understand. But I guess that's better than letting Ansem have control over everything."

Lya nodded and followed them back towards the ceremony. When they were halfway there, Lya's vision started to get fuzzy, then everything started fading.

"Not again..." she collapsed.

She woke up in the same field of light. She looked around, but she didn't see the figure anywhere.

"Hello Lya," a voice behind her said.

A/N Just to let you all know, this is going to cross with another game just a _teensy_ bit, because it ties into another story that I'm probably going to upload in a little while.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Hello Lya."

Lya spun around and found herself gazing into a pair of bright blue eyes. "What -" But everything faded before she could say any more.

"Sora stop shaking her! You'll give her whiplash!" Donald tried to pull Sora away from Lya.

"But we need her to wake up! We don't have time for her to keep passing out!" Just as Sora shouted this, Lya's eyes shot open and she sat up with a gasp. She looked at Sora, then at Donald, then back at Sora.

"I passed out again..?" she asked wearily as they pulled her to her feet.

Sora gave her a slight push towards the ceremony. "Let's do what we have to before you black out again.

"Wait a minute...I only wake up after you start yelling at me," she said as her expression became confused.

"So?" Donald asked.

"So, if it happens again, don't wake me up." She looked sternly at the other two. "It's happening for a reason, so let it happen."

Sora frowned, but didn't say anything, and started running towards the ceremony. Lya followed close behind him, while making sure that Donald kept up.

When they reached the ceremony, a large group of Heartless guarded the entrance. "Sora, do you think you could-" Lya turned to see that Sora was already running up to the Heartless. After a few minutes they were all dead. She nodded in approval and poked Donald.

"Hey!" he shouted, "That hurt!"

She ignored his complaining and said in a threatening voice, "It's your turn now. You'd better make it good."

Donald gulped and started walking towards the entrance. Before he went in, he turned and looked back at Sora and Lya. He sighed and stumbled forward.

Sora quietly snuck into the crowded ceremony a few moments later, keeping his head down. He was trying to tune out the speech that Ansem was giving. It was too painful to have to listen to him using Riku.

He was so intent on getting to the small area behind the banner where he and Lya had hid earlier, that he didn't notice that Ansem had stopped talking. He was almost to his hiding place, when he bumped into someone. He looked up and found himself face to face with Riku.

Lya paced back and forth a few yards away from the entrance to the ceremony. She hated having to wait outside, but her part wouldn't come until later.

The clash of weapons from inside the ceremony, followed by the large mob that ran out in terror was enough to make her forget about their plan and rush inside.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As Lya ran through the entrance, her vision became blurred again. _Not now!_ she thought as she shook her head. Everything cleared, and she saw that Riku had Sora backed into a corner. Donald was unconscious, lying against a wall like he had been thrown there.

As she watched, Riku lunged at Sora with his Keyblade, but Sora blocked him just in time. Sora tried to hit him, but Riku jumped aside easily, laughing at how quickly Sora was tiring. _Not Riku_, she reminded herself, _Ansem_. She looked around for something to use for a weapon, but she couldn't find anything.

"Do you give up yet?" Ansem taunted Sora, "Or do you want some more?" He rose up in the air and started flying at Sora from all different sides. Sora could only block a few blows. He was gasping for breath by the time Ansem finally stopped. "This is the true power of Darkness!" Ansem shouted as he prepared to strike a killing blow.

"Sora!" Lya screamed as she ran towards them as fast as she could. She threw herself in front of Sora just in time to keep Ansem from hitting Sora. Instead, he hit her, throwing her against the wall with a blast of dark energy. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Sora attacking Ansem with renewed energy.

"If I had known it would be this hard to talk to you, I wouldn't have bothered trying."

Lya opened her eyes slowly, and found herself once again in the field of light. She was lying on her back, and the person she had seen before was standing over her. A slight breeze made his dirty-blonde hair momentarily cover the upper part of his face, and his green hat swayed back and forth.

"Lya, I know what you're going to try and do," he said as he pushed his hair back, "and you can't."

"But-" she started to protest, but he stopped her.

"No, don't try to convince me that it's the only way, because it's not. You don't have to destroy everything."

"But Link, I -"

"Just listen," he said gently, "I know you think that your only power is to destroy everything, but that's not it at all. You have the power to set everything right. Or you will," he said as he corrected himself, "once I give it to you." He held out his hand, and a bright white orb appeared in his palm. He smiled at her confused expression. "This will help you."

"How?" she asked curiously.

"Just focus the power that you were going to use to destroy everything through this. It'll take care of the rest." He kissed her gently on the forehead.

Then her surroundings faded, and she found herself watching Sora fight Ansem.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Sora hit Ansem with his Keyblade, knocking him off his feet, then leapt backwards to get out of Ansem's range. Ansem stood up, and as he did, Riku's image faded away. Sora smiled as her realized that he must have gained the upper hand if Ansem had changed to his true form.

Ansem charged at him, with his shadow coming at Sora from behind. He was caught between the two and could only block a few hits. When they finally backed off, Sora was dazed and wasn't able to strike back for a few seconds. Ansem was so much stronger than he remembered.

_I don't know if I can beat him ..._ he thought, _Maybe if I had some help..._ he turned to look t where Lya had been thrown against the wall. His eyes widened when he saw that she wasn't there.

"What are you looking at, boy?" Ansem shouted as he sent his shadow after Sora. He looked past Sora and saw that Lya was gone. "Oh, your friend has run away, has she? I knew she didn't have what it takes to face me!"

Sora fought off Ansem's shadow and turned to face Ansem again. He felt exhausted, but he wasn't ready to give up. Not by a long shot. That's when he saw Lya.

Somehow she had managed to climb up one of the banners, and she was close to the ceiling. Sora had no idea what she was doing, but he hoped she had a plan, because he wasn't sure what they could possibly do at this point to fix things.

Ansem noticed that Sora's attention was diverted, and he turned to see what he was looking at.

"What do you think you're doing up there, girl?" he shouted.

Lya glanced over her shoulder at Ansem, then looked at Sora.

Sora straightened up and looked at Ansem, then back at Lya. _So this is it_, he thought, _she's going to destroy everything to stop him_. He watched as Lya jumped off of the banner. But instead of falling to the ground, she hovered about halfway between the floor and the ceiling.

She put her hands up in front of her, and held a glowing white orb, which became brighter as she closed her eyes.

Sora watched in amazement as she focused her energy through the orb. He heard Ansem scream at her, and saw his shadow try to attack her, but nothing affected her.

A blinding flash of light erupted from the orb, and everything disappeared.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Sora felt like he was lying on a beach. He could feel the sand beneath him, the sun on his face, and the waves gently washing up against his feet.

He sat up slowly with a groan, but kept his eyes closed. He felt like he was home, but ... that was impossible. The last thing he remembered was fighting Ansem, then watching as Lya had to destroy everything. So why did he feel like he was home on Destiny Islands?

He opened his eyes and realized that he was home. "How...did I get here...?" he said out loud. He stood up and looked around. There was no one there, so he headed for the dock to see if he could find anyone.

Riku was tying his boat to the dock as Sora ran up to him.

"Riku!"

"What is it, Sora?" he asked in an impatient tone.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked.

Riku stared at him, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Sora started talking almost too fast to be understood, "Because we went to Disney Castle and found Donald had changed time, so we went to Timeless River to fix everything, and we met Lya, then Ansem came back and was controlling you again..." Sora stopped when he realized that Riku was giving him a funny look.

"Sora, I think you've been out in the sun too long," Riku said as he continued to stare at Sora like he was crazy.

"B-but, it just happened...don't you remember?"

"Um," Riku looked uneasy, "look Sora, I have no idea what you're talking about. I just came to give you this letter. Some girl showed up and asked me to give it to you. She said she was sorry she couldn't say good-bye in person. Although I have no idea how she knows you, I've never seen her before." He held out a folded piece of paper to Sora, then went back to his boat.

Sora unfolded the paper and read:

_Dear Sora,_

_ I guess I didn't have to destroy everything after all. Don't worry, everything is back to the way it should be. But you and I are the only ones who remember anything. It's better this way._

_I know I owe you a better explanation than what I gave you before, so here it is. I'm from a place called Hyrule, which I know you've probably never heard of. I ran away a few months ago because I had a fight with one of my best friends. I thought that he would never forgive me, and to be honest, I didn't think I would be able to forgive myself. So I left, and I tried to find another place where I could fit in, but as I'm sure you've figured out by now, there aren't many places that can handle having me around for very long. _

_I just wanted to thank you, because if you hadn't helped me, I would still be on the run from my life. This whole experience made me realize that I can't do that. And now I know that my friend has forgiven me. So I'm going home._

_I'm really glad that I got to meet you, Sora, even if it wasn't under the best circumstances. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to let me know._

_Your friend,_  
_Lya_

Sora smiled and put the letter in his pocket.


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Link, could you take this outside for me?"

"Sure Grandma," Link said as he grabbed a large box and headed outside with it.

He hated spring cleaning, but it was even more boring this year, since Lya had left. Last year she had helped them with it, and they had been laughing and talking the whole time. But ever since the argument that they had had a few months before, she had disappeared. He sighed as he set the box down and leaned against the side of the house.

He had managed to reach out to her a few times and stop her from doing something that she would regret, but since then he hadn't heard anything from her.

_Lya, please come back soon_, he thought, _I miss you_.

He started to head back inside, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around and found himself gazing into a pair of dark brown eyes.

"Hello Link," she said as she smiled up at him.


End file.
